Reply With QuoteSorry Charlie, I wasn't refering to your posts- although Im not sure if they were negative or not because I started to fall asleep after reading the first few lines...
Whether your right or wrong I don't think its appropriate to post negative comments about someone or someone's business on this forum. Write to the owner/s via email with these issues rather than telling thousands of potential customers about it over the net. This thread should be taken down.
Sorry Charlie, I wasn't refering to your posts- although Im not sure if they were negative or not because I started to fall asleep after reading the first few lines...
Originally Posted by Matthias
You might have a case if the comments being made were inaccurate, or mischievous.
However, if they are not, then all the internet is doing is facilitating a rapid version of what all marketers know of as the most influential advertising medium, viz word-of-mouth.
It is also offering the business owner better sources of customer feedback than he is ever likely to get face to face. If the grievances being aired are not countered by a lot of counter arguments by happy customers, then he knows that he has a problem that needs fixing and very quickly so.
All the internet does is speed things up. It is like the grafitti on a wall at my university used to say, "Avoid the end of year rush, fail now."
Rather than having hurt feelings about such posts, a smart business owner will recognise that he has to do something to avoid that end of year rush that ,in business terms, usually happens when the economy takes a dip. At such times, the tide goes out and business who are anchored on shallow soft reefs in terms of their customer happiness effectiveness, get very exposed.
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It has been a long, long time since I have posted a fishing report. You don't know what it is like to fall asleep until you read one of them.
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Yeah I understand that criticism has benefits for a business however the original post was nothing but negative and not intended to help the owner in any way. Remember the owner had to start a new account to respond to the claims after being alerted by friends. I don't think its a fair thing to go and slander someone's business without confronting\ alerting the owner before hand.
Firstly - Apologies to Charlieville for pressing the like button on your last post - it was meant with the same sarcastic humour that i believe the post was made in. Your fishing reports are always a welcome relief from the "I went fishing and caught a fish" posts.
Secondly - I dont see it as a major issue raising poor service (we also have MANY good service posts here) in this forum. The proviso is that the posts are specific and quote examples, rather than a general " their service sucks" comment. Lets be hypothetical here - If someone was to put up a post and say something like " Sunfish Sams Tackle Store is staffed by a bunch of morons who have no idea what they are talking about and couldnt give a rats rectum about customer service because i called in there at 4.30 am this morning and they didnt have any 1/0 Mustad 92247 hooks and wouldnt try and get some for me 7am" Then I would immeiately learn more about the person putting up the post than 'Sunfish Sams'.
Tackle stores do run out of some items of stock from time to time - and believe it or not - sometimes it is the most basic of expected items. I remember about 18 months ago I was looking for a particular popular size treble to refurbish some lures that I had - it was a common size and pattern - went to first local store, none in stock....so I grumbled under my breath for a bit and headed to next local store - same deal - none in stock - hmmmm - head to major outdoor store as a last resort - same thing. Being the persistent bugger that I am - i think theres another two major outdoor stores (different companies) nearby - funily enough - none of them had any either. Now some people may have posted on this forum that this was poor service - but having owned a tackle store myself - I came to the conclusion that the problem wasnt with the stores but with the supply of the hooks. (luckily I have a mate who owns a tackle store interstate and a quick phone call got me some hooks posted up to me - he keeps more of these style hooks than most of the suppliers - plus a confirmation that the suppliers shipment of same was six weeks late).
The issue of rude, complacent, arrogant service - is probably best not raised immediately with the business owner in person - if I read into the emotion of some of the posts I have seen - as it most probably would finish up in a raging argument at best.
Most people on this forum would be very much pro the local bloke - and want them to succeed - and would be merely saying what they expect from a bait and tackle store. Occassionally some of those expectations may be a bit over the top - but genrally they are reasonable expectations. Don't expect to pay the same price for things at your local that you will pay by scouring the net for the cheapest price ( he doesnt have their buying power/proximity to manufacturer/volume of sales), and I will guarantee he has much higher overheads to sales than they do - remember that the difference between what he buys it at - and his sale price - is what he has to pay his rent, power bill, cost of fitout, in a lot of instances interest on overdraft/loan, wages for staff and their oncosts, and more importantly his own wages so that he can put a roof over his families head and food on the table.
I only wish that a forum like this was operating when i had my tackle shop as I would have loved to recieve feedback from customers in a timely basis, whether it be good or bad, so that I could react accordingly - be that by changing the way I do business, or have an opportunity to explain, apologise or rectify specifics. No business I know of gets it right everytime - but its how they respond to those 'moments of truth' that will determine the success of the business.
Greg
ps . There ya go Charlieville - a sleeping pill of a post from me. lol
better than no shop at all isnt it
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